Friday 10th January 2014.

Bonnibel thought she'd had a quite successful first week at school. She'd hung around with Finn, Jake, Lady, Gumball, Cake and Fionna at all of her breaks and she'd managed to avoid Marshall after she saw him outside smoking on the Tuesday.

She'd seen Marceline once within the week, in History. Other than that, the intimidating girl may as well have not even gone to the same school as Bonnibel, as she always seemed to disappear through the day.

She only ever saw Marceline on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the days she had History. Of course, Bonnibel never talked to the angry girl. Bonnibel did her best to ignore Marceline, but she did enjoy the sweet strawberry scent emitting from the girl. It was much nicer than the smell of smoke on her brother. Bonnibel was tempted to ask Marceline what perfume she used, but she felt like talking to her would get her punched in the face, so she refrained from it.

She was surprised when Marceline talked to her in History that Friday.

"Yo, Bonnibutt."

"Marceline, that's too distasteful." Bonnibel chided, before she realised who she was talking to and her eyes widened.

Marceline glared at her, her blood red eyes burning into Bonnibel's blue ones. "What'd you get for question 9?"

"Do it yourself." Honestly, Bonnibel was terrified that Marceline was going to kill her for being stubborn.

"I have. I put Stalin." Marceline said. "I just want to know if that's right or not."

"Oh." Bonnibel gulped and looked down at her paper. "You're right."

Marceline nodded and looked down at her paper, and Bonnibel felt relieved, but after a few seconds she looked back up at Bonnibel and glared. "Oh, and talk to me like that again and I'll rip your head off and use it as a basketball."

Yep, there it is, Bonnibel thought. "Sorry."

Bonnibel told Lady about her encounter when she met her friends outside at break.

"I can't believe you made it out of that alive." Lady joked.

Bonnibel found herself chuckling as she sat down on the crisp, frosty grass. "Yeah, I know."

"Hey, Bubblegum!" She turned to see Finn waving at her on his way over.

"Hi, Finn." She smiled at him.

"You should come and hang out with us at the weekend!" Finn exclaimed. "Every Saturday we have a movie day."

Bonnibel was about to decline, but Gumball spoke up. "Yeah, you should come. We're watching the entire High School Musical box set. It's going to be hilarious."

"I really shouldn't, I do have a lot of studying to do -," Bonnibel tried to explain, but Cake cut her off.

"Don't be a nerd, Bubblegum."

Jake laughed. "Yeah, you nerd!"

Bonnibel sighed. "Fine, I guess I can come for an hour or so."

"It's at mine this week." Lady said. "I'll get your phone number and then I'll text you my address."

Bonnibel smiled and gave Lady her phone so the two could exchange numbers. Finn blushed and passed his phone to Bubblegum. "You can put your number in my phone if you want."

"Okay." Bonnibel took his phone and typed her number in, and ended up doing that for everyone else.

She was happy; she'd never had friends before, and although this was a new experience for her, she was loving every minute.

Saturday 11th January 2014.

Bonnibel arrived at Lady's house when the rest of the group were already there and were getting junk food – such as popcorn and numerous types of candy – prepared so they could stuff their faces during the movie.

Lady's house was very big, and Bonnibel was pretty intimidated by the sheer size of the house. It was incredibly prestigious and Bonnibel was almost certain she'd gotten the wrong address, because she could've sworn it was a mansion she was stood outside.

Bonnibel tried looking for the bell on the black door, and when she couldn't find it, she settled on the cold knocker. Lady was the one to answer. "Bubblegum, hey!"

"Hi, Lady."

"We're all in the kitchen making popcorn." Lady led Bonnibel through her gigantic house – which Bonnibel was grateful for as she was sure she'd end up getting lost – all the way into the huge kitchen where the rest of their friends were making as much noise as possible as the popcorn was in the microwave.

"Guys, Bubblegum is here!"

They all greeted her and Finn even came over and gave her a hug. "Hi, Bubblegum."

"Hey Finn." Bonnibel smiled; Finn really was sweet.

Gumball passed her a few packets of 'fun-sized' chocolate bars. "Would you mind taking these up to Lady's room? Jake's going up there with one of the popcorn bowls so he'll show you the way."

"C'mon, Bubblegum." Jake beckoned her towards the door, and she followed him through Lady's huge house and up the stairs onto the landing. He walked her towards the door at the end of the landing and opened it to reveal a huge bedroom. Bonnibel was amazed; Lady had a queen sized bed with a pink canopy that Bonnibel took a liking to. Her walls were white and there were posters of boybands and pop singers over them. Lady's room was organised, much like Bonnibel's; everything had its place. There wasn't a speck of dust on anything.

Bonnibel sat herself down on Lady's bed, placing the packets of chocolate in her arms on the floor by Jake's popcorn bowl. She stayed on the edge of the bed, unsure if she should make herself comfortable or if she and Jake would be going back downstairs. He answered that question before she could even ask it. "They'll be up in like 5 minutes. We can pick out the first DVD."

"What happened to watching all of the High School Musical movies?" Bonnibel chuckled.

"Cake vetoed that." Jake stated. "She said it was too 'immature' or whatever."

Bonnibel laughed. "It would've been pretty funny watching you guys sing along to all of the songs."

"Yeah…" Jake changed the subject. "So what's with you being BFFs with Marceline Abadeer, huh?"

Bonnibel laughed. "I wouldn't call us BFFs. She doesn't like me."

"Clearly she does." Jake exclaimed. "Lady told me about what happened yesterday and her not killing you when you talked back to her. If I did that she'd punch me!"

"She threatened to kill me." Bonnibel defended. "She definitely does not like me."

Jake was about to argue with her, but everybody else came into the room with more food and placed it on Lady's rug where the rest of it was. "Guys, what're we watching?"

"We should watch something scary." Cake suggested. "Like, Nightmare on Elm Street or something."

"No way." Finn mumbled, looking down and blushing. "I hate scary movies, unless they're stupid. What about an adventure movie?"

"Comedy." Jake stated.

"I'm with Jake." Lady said.

"Same." Gumball replied.

Fionna nodded. "Definitely a comedy."

They all turned to look at Bonnibel. Lady smiled. "It's up to you, Bubblegum."

Bonnibel frowned. "Comedy, I guess."

Finn blushed, nodding. "Yeah, comedy. Good call, Bubblegum."

"You literally just said adventure movie." Jake scoffed. "Does somebody have a little crush on Bubblegum?"

Bonnibel frowned, although it did seem to make sense. Finn was always blushing around her, and he went out of his way to talk to her as much as he could. She thought it was cute, but she wouldn't date Finn. He was two years younger than her and he wasn't exactly her type.

Finn was bright red. "I do not! You're full of it, Jake."

Fionna laughed. "It's pretty obvious, Finn."

"Shut up." Finn shouted. "I don't like Bubblegum like that."

"Finn, stop lying." Jake laughed.

"It's okay, Finn." Bonnibel cut in. "If you do, I don't mind."

Finn smiled. "Would you go on a date with me sometime?"

Bonnibel froze. She didn't know how to let Finn down easy; nobody had ever asked her out before and the only person Bonnibel had ever asked out herself didn't take it very well. "Actually, I don't date. Sorry, Finn."

Finn frowned. "Why not?"

She was aware of everyone's eyes on her. "It would interfere with my studies."

Jake snorted. "You're such a nerd, Bubblegum."

Finn nervously laughed. "Yeah, nerd!"

Lady changed the subject by holding up her Bridesmaids DVD. "How about we watch this?"

Everyone seemed to agree aside from a reluctant Jake who murmured something about how annoyed he was by the amount of chick-flicks they watched on movie day, but he didn't complain while the movie was on.

Bonnibel was surprised by how quiet the group was while watching the movie. She expected everyone to be loud and talk over it about whatever gossip was going on, but apparently that only happened when LSP was there, which she wasn't as she was hanging out with her sometimes best friend Melissa and her on-again off-again boyfriend Brad.

Bonnibel was also pretty shocked when she saw Jake and Lady cuddle up together, and everyone laughed at her wide-eyed expression when they kissed.

"They've been dating for like two years." Fionna told her through her giggles. "They don't really act like it, though."

Bonnibel nodded. "They're cute together."

When the movie ended, Bonnibel stood up from her spot on Lady's bed. "I'm going to go."

"Aw, Bubblegum! Stay for one more movie!" Finn exclaimed.

Bonnibel shook her head. "I really should go do homework."

"If you don't want to watch another movie, then we can go for a walk or something." Lady offered. "We don't have to watch movies."

"Actually, I quite like the idea of a walk." Fionna stated.

Bonnibel smiled. "I guess I could stay for a little bit."

"We'll show you around town." Jake grinned. "It'll be fun."

They did just that.

The town was much smaller than Bonnibel had originally thought, which was surprising as she already knew it was tiny. Her friends walked her through several neighbourhoods where the houses were identical. They were all the same size and colour and reminded Bonnibel of a stereotypical American neighbourhood from some dumb 60's movie. The sidewalk was wet and the grass was frosty, and her friends' breath was coming out in white clouds and their cheeks were red from the cold. Everyone was wrapped up in oversized sweaters and coats, and Finn had lent Bonnibel his backup white beanie.

They got to the centre of town, and Lady was determined to show Bonnibel the town mall, which was miniscule in comparison to the one Bubblegum's mother always insisted on taking her to in New York. "This is where LSP, Cake and I spend our weekends. You'll have to come shopping with us one day."

Bonnibel chuckled a little. "I'm not really the shopping type."

Fionna grinned. "Same here. Don't worry, they drag me out too; you can be my co-complainer. Maybe we can leave early that way."

Bonnibel smiled. "I guess I could go for an hour every once and a while."

Lady's face broke out into a smile. "Awesome! We'll take you to all of the best shops, and by the end of the day, you'll love it!"

"That's what you told me." Fionna rolled her eyes.

Cake laughed. "You'll always hate shopping, we can't change that. You're just a grump."

"I'd much rather be hanging out with Finn and Jake and playing video games." Fionna stated.

Finn grinned. "Yeah! Video games are awesome."

"I kick your butt every time, though." Jake laughed.

"Yeah, and I kick yours." Fionna finished, nudging Jake with her elbow. "You both suck!"

Gumball laughed. "I just stick with studying."

Bonnibel's eyes widened for a second, and then a smile settled across her face. "Hey, me too!"

"If you want I can show you the library one night and show you the best study books." Gumball offered.

Bonnibel saw Finn glaring at his strawberry-blond friend. "Sure, that'd be cool."

Finn changed the subject before Gumball could make him any more jealous. "We should all go see that new Paranormal Activity movie down at the movie theatre! I want to see if it's as hilarious as the first 4."

Lady chuckled as she lead the group down a new street that had stores lined down both sides, each one advertising different things. "Like you'd be let into that. It's R rated."

"Yeah!" Jake laughed, taking hold of Lady's hand. "You look like you're twelve, dude."

Finn's cheeks flushed. "I do not!"

Cake laughed. "We'd have to let you into some kid area while we all go in. Like a ball pit or something."

The group burst out laughing, and Fionna was the one to finally calm down. "Real talk; who actually wants to go to this? I'm up for it."

Cake shrugged. "I'll go if you're all down."

Gumball nodded. "Yeah, same."

Jake grinned. "Hell yeah! Lady, what about you?"

Lady shrugged. "I don't see why not."

"I want to go!" Finn chimed in. "What about you, Bubblegum?"

Bonnibel felt everyone's eyes on her. "I don't know, guys. I'm not big on horror movies. Even the bad ones scare me."

Finn raised a fist in the air. "I'd protect you!"

"I think I'll sit this one out." Bonnibel concluded.

Lady smiled. "That's fine. You'll still come to movie day next week though, right?"

Bonnibel shrugged. "I'll let you know."

Jake frowned when he realised where they were. "You guys do realise we're headed towards the bad side of town, right?"

Gumball frowned. "Why are we going here?"

Everyone turned to Lady and there was a concerned mutter within the group. Bonnibel stuffed her hands inside her coat pockets and looked up at Lady as the girl explained herself. "I want to show Bonnibel where to avoid."

"I wouldn't mind it if we were in a car, but I feel like we're going to get stabbed or something." Fionna muttered as the group neared a block of run-down apartment buildings.

"God, I hate the stoner house." Jake stated, a tremble in his voice as the group turned a corner and walked parallel to the dirty building which had graffiti all over it.

They were just nearing the end of the street – and Bonnibel could feel how tense everyone was – when they heard a "Hey, Bonnibel!" from behind them. The entire group spun around to see Marshall running towards them, waving his hand.

Bonnibel was confused, but forced a smile. "Hi, Marshall."

"Getting a tour, I see." Marshall commented.

"Yeah…" Bonnibel nodded. "What're you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm -," He was cut off by someone shouting.

"Marshall, get your tits back here."

"Chill, Marce." Marshall shouted back. "Don't you want to talk to Bonnibel?"

Bonnibel squinted and saw Marceline stood with three other people who looked to be in their twenties and all had tattoos and piercings. She swore she could see Marceline scowling at her. "Of course I don't."

Marshall rolled his eyes and turned back to Bonnibel. "I'm just here with my friends and sister."

Bonnibel nodded. "Cool."

"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" Marshall asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh!" Bonnibel's eyes widened and she turned to her friends – who all looked pretty freaked out –, pointing out each one as she said their names. "This is Finn, Jake, Lady, Gumball, Fionna and Cake."

Marshall smirked at Fionna. "Hey there. We've been at school together for 3 years and we still haven't talked?"

Fionna glared at him. "That's because you're an asshole."

"Can't say I disagree with you there, blondie." A new voice spoke up.

Bonnibel turned to see Marceline stood right behind her with an eyebrow raised. Marshall laughed at her. "Good one. I thought you weren't coming over?"

"Yeah, well Guy and Keila started smoking and you know how I feel about that." Marceline shrugged, flicking a stray strand of her inky black hair from her eyes.

"You smoke." Jake stated, his attempt at sounding brave failing due to a tremble in his voice.

"For your information, dumbass," Marceline spat, her voice filled with venom and menace. "I don't. Never have, never will."

Bonnibel smiled at this, and she caught Lady frowning at her with an eyebrow raised. She ignored the blonde girl and looked Marceline over, finding herself smiling even wider at the dark haired girl's outfit. Marceline was wearing an oversized dark grey sweater with a red cat's face in the centre, and black skinny jeans. Her midnight black hair was unkempt and messy and seemed to have a life of its own, but still managed to look soft, and for a moment, Bonnibel wanted to reach out and touch it.

Jake gulped and looked anywhere but Marceline, gripping onto Lady's hand tighter. "Sorry."

Bonnibel decided to speak up and distract Marceline's attention from Jake. "Hi, Marceline. Did you do the History homework?"

"Fuck, we had homework?" Bonnibel saw Marceline's eyes widen considerably, and she found herself chuckling.

"Not really. I just wanted to make conversation."

"And apparently give me a fucking heart attack."

Bonnibel giggled, and all of her friends stared at her with wide eyes. "You're funny, Marceline."

"Whatever." Marceline rolled her eyes and then turned to her brother. "I'm going into Keila's. If you don't get your butt inside and practise with us, I'll mount it on a wall."

Bubblegum watched as Marceline stalked off over to her friends, and didn't take her eyes off the girl until she disappeared into one of the apartment buildings that Jake had earlier described as 'stoner house'.

Marshall chuckled. "I guess that's my cue to leave. I'll see you around, Bonnibel."

"Bye."

Lady waited until Marshall was out of sight and her and Bubblegum had walked ahead of the group to interrogate her. "How do you talk to her like that?"

"What do you mean?" Bubblegum frowned.

"You just say whatever you want to her and she doesn't kill you!" Lady exclaimed. "Maybe she's taken a liking to you."

"Maybe Marshall just told her to give me a break like he said he would." Bonnibel countered.

Lady sighed, her breath coming out like a puff of smoke. "I guess."

They walked Bonnibel home, and the pink haired girl got hugs from all of her friends before she walked up her slippery driveway and onto her front porch. She watched as her friends disappeared down the street before opening the door and entering her house, sighing in content as she shook off her shoes and discarded her coat.

Maybe living here wouldn't be as bad as she thought.